Skyrim: Soldier of the Empire
by Rougeification
Summary: A young Breton from Cyrodiil escapes the block in Solitude, but he has a deadly secret - he is not who the Stormcloaks think he is... he harbours a secret that no one can know. A story of betrayal, death, deceit and revenge. Inc. OC from ArrowStriker's story, Trails of the Dragonborn: Stormcloak's Revenge.
1. Chapter 1

I began to awake, groggily seeing the dreary grey sky moving slowly. I groaned as my head began to jog from side to side. I began to blink my eyes more, seeing the trees come into the view of the overcast sky. I brought my gaze down, examining what I was in: I was bound in a flimsy wooden cart, being dragged along a jaggedly-paved road. I looked around at the rest of the bound passengers - there was a woman who's head was hung low, staring at her ankles. To my right was a man, dressed in chain mail and various cottons and furs. He looked up at me, examining my dark and expensive garb.

"You from the Empire?" He asked me. I shook my head.

"High Rock." I answered, raising both of my hands to rub my temples - no matter how dim the light was, it was still attacking my eyes - it had been a long time since I had awoken in the day. And outside.

"You picked the wrong time to travel north friend." He said - his pale complexion and thick accent told me he was a Nord. "What's your name?" I closed my eyes and shook my head, signaling that I did not want to talk. He simply nodded, showing he understood me, and began to look forwards, at the road that would no doubt lead us to our deaths.

Well, their deaths. I, for one was not going to die. After all, I had been trained my entire life to get out of situations like this - it was in my blood.

I looked around, and noticed that my bow, quiver and sword were by the guard at the reigns. If I was going to get out of here, I would need my gear - first objective key to survival - be armed. I waited until we began to go further west into Skyrim, and into the snow. I raised my bound hands and pulled up the expensive brown garb above my nose, and pulled my hood up, in order to keep warm. I looked once again at the driver, who began to slow the cart as he began to steer one-handed, the other was rubbing his arm, trying to generate some heat. I took a few breaths, and prepared myself. I would have a better chance of escape when the men are slowing down, approaching whichever city was chosen to execute us. I looked back to the other cart being dragged behind us, full of Nordic soldiers, dressed in attire matching the one next to me. I kept my head low, and overheard the soldiers talking:

"...we'll be there soon."

"I hope so - freezing my arse off in these mountains..."

"We'll have a sit-down when we get to Solitude - anyway, be thankful. The other convoy came through most of the mountains, we got the hotter route."

Another convoy? This meant more horses, and a quicker escape.

We began to bounce along towards the distant city, when we all saw the same sight of magnificence: the city was white like marble, resting on a stone archway as if the Divines had crafted it like a pedestal for the Blue Palace.

We heard an deafening roar echo across the mountainous valley, and a monstrous sight followed - I could make it out at this distance: a reptilian beast, with leathery wings, torn and cut wings billowing in the air, a tail swinging back and forth, spiked like a fatal mace, and it exhaled a steady stream of horrifically fast fire.

"It's an ambush?" Said the Imperial guard steering, in disbelief.

"That's no ambush." I said, examining it.

"It's a dragon." The rebel next to me whispered in disbelief - in awe. I suddenly snapped back into survival mode - this was the chance to escape. I lunged forwards, grabbing my equipment and rolling out of the cart. I heard shouts and steel scratches ensue my bold move, telling me that the other prisoners were following suit. I launched myself along the snow-topped mountain side and slid, my hands clutching tightly onto my weapons. I saw a number of arrows fly past my shoulders, embedding themselves into the snow where my back had been seconds before. I slid over a rock, which cracked my rib, causing me to yell out in pain. I flew up over the snow, where one of the arrows found their mark in the back of my shoulder. I cried out again, and hit into the snow, skidding towards the rocks jutting out at the bottom of the cliff.

I flew off the cliffside and landed a ten foot drop into more snow. I pushed myself up hastily, picked up my weapons and began to dash across the thinning snow, and into the woodland.

I eventually outran the arrows, and sat down against a tree, placing the weapons down. I took out an arrow from my quiver and began to rub the arrowhead against my bonds, which gave way fairly quickly. I unravelled them quickly, rubbing my wrists from where the bonds had burnt during my getaway. I grabbed my right ribs, and reached over my shoulder, feeling the cracked wood of the arrow jutting out slightly. I prodded it, and felt a small pain inside my shoulder. I grabbed the wood and snapped it, leaving the arrowhead in. I would have remove it once I had cover, and there was no threat of bears or wolves around.

I figured no one was going to be tracking me now, especially since a dragon was on the loose now, so I didn't bother covering my tracks - I just made my way further into the forest, where animals would naturally trek across my tracks.

As I walked, I began to buckle the belts and straps across my chest, with my sharpened longsword tied across my back, along with my ebony-tipped arrows in their ornate quiver. I gripped my bow and began to jog across the forest-scape, clearing over fallen tree trunks and ducking under low-hanging branches, until I came to the small town of Riverwood.

I trudged along the rocky road, until I came to the independant village. I immediately buckled down onto my knees as I walked in, trying to push myself back up. A man close-by saw me on the floor and rushed over to help, pulling my arm around his neck and half-carrying me to a nearby house.

I was placed in a fur-covered bed, where I cried out at the pain of the arrowhead digging deeper into my shoulder. I leaned off of my back, and leant half of my body out of the bed. I heard a flurry of thick nordic voices, and groaned in pain. Eventually I closed my eyes and let darkness consume me...

I awoke with gasps - panting heavily. I sat bolt-up on the bed, and immediately grabbed my ribs. They felt sore, but were otherwise intact. I took a few deep breaths, then rubbed the sweat off of my brow. I looked down, seeing that I was missing my doublet and tunic. I looked around desperately for my weapons, which lay on a dresser - all arrows and quiver. I looked back around the room, and caught site of a figure facing me by the fireplace. A woman.

"Easy traveller." She said. "You took a tumble getting here - nearly broke your ribs." She got up and walked over to me.

"Who are you?"

"Camilla." She answered. She reached behind me and in one swift move, extracted the arrowhead from my shoulder. I grunted in pain, feeling the wound on my back. I felt better now, but I could feel the blood slowly dripping down my back. She placed a wrap of linen around it before putting my arm in a sling. "You'll be better soon." She assured me. "In the meantime, you have a visitor."

I looked up to see a familiar sight enter the room - his dull green eyes fluttering over my sling and the bruises that covered me. He wore a light brown doublet over a bright yellow tunic. A steel sword swung by his hip. He stopped, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword.

"Leave us." He said to Camilla, who lingered for a moment before exiting the room. Once the door shut, he started to speak.

"You're getting sloppy Tacitus." He said.

"Realism." I explained simply. "The rebels think I'm a fugitive." I said with a grin. It really wasn't hard to trick Nords. "They'll lead me straight to them."

"Now, remember," Geoff said approaching me "Arrow is amongst them. She is not to be harmed." He ordered me.

"Protecting a traitor." I said, eye-to-eye with him. "I think you could be killed for that."

"She will be tried for her actions. And she will be forgiven." He stated. "That's why you're here - the Emperor himself insisted upon it-"

"I know," I said, rolling my eyes "I was there. I talked with him."

"Then do your job. Or the Emperor will have to train a new attack dog." He said with a smarmy grin. He dropped the smile in an instant and took a step towards me. "You harm my sister, and you harm me. And you don't want to do that." I looked at him for a full second. His arrogance stank over me, which made me want to react and end him now. But I didn't - I couldn't. I simply nodded.

"I always do my job." I replied. "You have my word: Ulfric Stormcloak will be dead within weeks."


	2. Chapter 2

_Three Weeks Ago..._

I stood in the darkened room - the only light coming from the circle of glass overhead, which allowed the moonlight of the full moon to illuminate myself, and gently show the outlines of my Master - Titus Mede II.

His rich and expensive furs and fabrics trailed behind him as he stood in front of me.

"She escaped." He informed me. "She killed a battalion on her way out of the city." I gritted my teeth. "She betrayed us Tacitus." I breathed in deeply. How could she do this? We trusted her!

"Why would she do this master?" I asked, still knelt down in the pale light.

"I believe she has allied herself with the Stormcloaks in Skyrim."

"What?" I looked up at him, completely taken aback. "The Nords?"

"She tried to assassinate me, Tacitus." He said slowly. "You know that. Had I treated her unkindly? Had I done her wrong? What could I have done to warrant such treachery?" I sighed. "She is a traitor to you, to me and to our Empire." He said firmly. I knew this now. She was the enemy. My only friend had deceived us. "Do not let her get in your way, Tacitus. You must kill the leader of this rebellion, no matter the cost."

I nodded, and stood up.

"I swear, I will kill Ulfric Stormcloak and end this so-called Rebllion."

My master placed his hands on my shoulders in a fatherly fashion - he was the only father I had ever known.

"Go, and make me proud." He instructed. And I would. I would show him I was the best - despite Arrow's priviliged background, she was still just weak - she had probably joined the Stormcloaks to spite the Empire - she never owed allegiance to anyone or anything - why would she start now? "Geoff will be instructing you on her whereabouts. You are to report to him once in Skyrim."

I nodded. I had never liked Geoff, but we were facing a bigger threat - I would have to try my best to put aside our differences - I'm sure he would be as

"I'll go in as a prisoner." I informed my Emperor. "I will gain the trust of the Stormcloak soldiers, and once they lead me to Ulfric, I will kill them all." I promised him. He raised an eyebrow.

"And Arrow?" My heart suddenly felt full with duty and loyalty to my home.

"I'll kill anyone who gets in my way." I promised. He smiled, satisfied.

"Go, and bring peace to our Empire." I nodded, and turned around, gripping my bow tightly. I thought back to when Arrow had been in prison - her I was going to track down Arrow, and I would make her pay for everything she had done to her Empire, to her master, but most of all, to me. I knew my mission, and I would kill Arrow if she got in my way.

No, I wouldn't kill her...not at first... first I would kill those around her. And only then, when she has lost enough as I have, then I would stop hunting her.

**Pretty dark, I know, but hopefully you guys are still reading?**

**I'm going to be updating when I can, but I'm working on a few other stories - and the chapters of this will probably short, like this one, but with a few big events. In case you were wondering, yes, I am using ArrowStriker's Dragonborn character from Trails of the Dragonborn: Stormcloak Revenge. Look it up - it's a really good read.**

**Also, I am writing a second Skyrim fanfic with a character similar to Tacitus, called Skyrim: The Emperor's Hand. It's my part of another Skyrim collaboration I have with Bayd1074 and his story, The Ruby Throne - which is a really unique story, that I am really looking forward to working on.**

**Reviews are always appreciated, and let me know if you like the story, so I can prioritize and update more frequently with longer chapters. Also - criticism is welcome... as long as it's constructive.**

**See you in the next chapter!**


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